BlackBerry has been known to be working on an Android-based handset called ‘Venice. But now it seems that Venice is not the only device from the Canadian firm to run the Android OS. A new video has been leaked showing a BlackBerry Passport running on the Android OS, says a report from CrackBerry.
Will it be Venice or Passport?
In the video uploaded on YouTube by Dudu Tec Rock, a BlackBerry Passport is seen running on the latest Android Lollipop OS. One interesting feature highlighted in the video is the ability to scroll through the display by swiping across the physical keyboard. This indicates that some of the BlackBerry features are retained in the device, and it is not a device that runs only on Android.
The video highlights few other features as well. One is to make the small pages (not big enough for Passport screen) fit onto the screen. This can be done via Quick Settings. The video also shows an option just above the physical keyboard to launch an on-screen keyboard.
The market is eagerly awaiting the slider Venice smartphone, so launching an old device (Passport) with the new software does not make much sense. It is quite possible that BlackBerry is just testing how the new OS is working on the already existing hardware so that the roll-out of its upcoming Android device turns out to be smoother.
BlackBerry Venice specs
BlackBerry Venice is for real as the company has already showed it at MWC in March. The device appeared to run the BB10 OS back then, but according to the latest rumors and leaks it will actually run Android 5.0 Lollipop.
BlackBerry Venice is expected to have a 5.4-inch screen with a pixel density of 2560X1440 and a curved AMOLED display. Sliding it up, will reveal a full physical keyboard. The device would be powered with 1.8GHz 64-bit, hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor, and will come with a 3 GB RAM. The front camera is said to be 5 MP while the rear camera is 18 MP as per the rumors. Features from BB10, like the BlackBerry Hub, will be included in the new phones, according to a report on ‘The Verge’.
